The zookeepers love to tease us animals, leaving this tantalizing lineup just out of our reach while we shuffle around our cages hungry for another 115 days. After a very well-received Phase 1 Lineup for the 5th annual Electric Zoo festival, Made Eventpromised us a longer roster today and they sure did deliver. Now the only thing left out of the formula for a massive labor day weekend are the afterparty announcements, which should be coming our way in early August. Click the image to see the full-sized lineup.
New York's annual Electric Zoo is headed back to the place it began at Randall's Island Park this year right in the heart of New York City. Tri-State promoter Made Event promised us animals two mainstages this year, and today they are here to deliver the first phase of headliners for them both. The newly redesigned festival that is now 18+ (!!!) is sure to pack all the fun we had the last two years at the Hilltop, Riverside, and Sunday School into an even bigger package with two mainstages East & West in an expanded setup that is sure to take the production even higher. Click the lineup image to enlarge.
After killing it at Electric Zoo, Mord Fustang is back with "Champloo." The ever versatile MF strays from his typical Electro House production, shown in "Lick the Rainbow" and "The Electric Dream," and shows off his glitch hop skills. Using tough drums and trippin glitches, "Champloo" is a banger. Be sure to check out his Electric Zoo set too.
Quickly leaping from obscurity to the spotlight, the German Electro House artist Anton Zaslavski is not afraid to experiment with new sounds and cross musical boundaries. From glitchy head-nodding beats to massive uplifting dance-pop records ("Spectrum"), Zedd may be the frontman for the new face of dance music, where genres evolve and morph as fast as the beats themselves, and to get the top you've got to keep up. I had the pleasure to sit down with Zedd for a few minutes at Electric Zoo this past weekend to ask him about his own inspirations, successes, and how it feels to be at the top of his game.
So Zedd, how did it just feel to perform on the NYC Electric Zoo stage?
It felt amazing - it was great. I just got in here literally a couple minutes before I started my set because I had a very late flight so I got here and got right on stage. Yeah and it was super packed, it felt amazing.
As a classically trained musician, what initially inspired you to make the cross over from piano and drums to Electronic music?
One of my biggest inspiriations was Justice, because when I heard that album Cross it made me want to try to do something new and it made me want to try electronic music, and then I just started doing it for fun. That was the main inspiration that brought me to this scene.
You're one of the kings of Electro House, but you still maintain a wide variation of sound in your releases. What do you see as the future sound of EDM?
You know I would have never thought something like Trap music would have been big for a moment and also Moombahton was also kind of unexpected for me so there can be new trends every day and it's changing so quickly so I don't know. I really have no clue - I couldn’t even guess.
Coming from Germany, where dance music has already been popular for quite a while in the club scene, what do you feel the biggest differences are between the EDM scene that has risen in the U.S. and the one back in Europe?
I think that the scene in America is ahead of Europe, and a lot ahead of Germany. Because for instance, in Germany a lot of YouTube is blocked and you can't watch any videos on Universal Music Group - all those big artists you can't really watch. And the dance culture in Germany is a little different than that in the states because its more focused on the dancing and they don’t really care about the DJs. I want people to pay attention to what I’m actually doing. I see myself as an artist and that scene really isn’t there in Germany.
Did you know when creating "Spectrum" it would become such a big hit?
No, absolutely not. I made the song and then decided I loved it and wanted to put it out as a single so I called my label and told them I wanted it out right now. But I hadn’t released music for a little while, and "Spectrum" is obviously a little different than what I put out before, so I didn’t know how my fans would react. But I really didn't care because I feel if you think only about what your fans think, not yourself, then you're trying too hard to be someone people like - and that's not me. So I just released it and it's by far the biggest song I've ever had.
It's a big honor. I've asked for remixes before and it's really hard to get people to remix your song, especially the names you named because they're super busy and always touring, and most of the time they're not cheap as well. There's always a financial factor, but they were all super excited about the song and they were like yeah we want to remix it.
What is it like to be signed to Interscope Records as a dance music artist who was making Legend of Zelda remixes just a little over a year back? (We loved that remix).
It feels great. I feel like at Interscope I have a team that is able to help and support me achieve my goals, and I have a lot of time to concentrate on my music now because I can go to them with what I need and want and they take care of it while I'm working on music. But yeah I think it's great - it's a big step. It’s a major label and I'm honored to be one of its artists.
When working on new projects do you like discovering new or unknown talent and vocalists to collaborate with?
It's the best feeling, it's incredible. My passion is finding people no one knows. I did it with Heather Bright who no one knew who she was, and now everyone wants to work with her. I also did it with Matthew Koma, and I have a lot of other artists on my album who are going to blow up. I work with big artists too though like Ellie Goulding, but it's a ton of fun finding new talent.
What do you currently have in the works, and what are your future goals as an artist?
Well my biggest project is my album which is coming out October 9th and my future goal set is up in there. I don't really plan too far ahead I'm just going to release my album and then go from there.
All the animals are still roaming wild after this weekend at the Electric Zoo. We were absolutely blown away by stellar performances from nearly every artist we saw this weekend, so we're happy to present this list of live sets from this past weekend. The list will be updated as more streaming sets become available. And if you were at the festival you may have seen Brooke Allan taking your photos, we have a lot coming real soon so watch out for them, they'll be posted within the next few days on the Event Photos section and on our Facebook page (so make sure to tag yourselves)!
D-Francis brought the tent to the ground with his grimey Jungle Moombah beats Friday. It was a hot and sweaty late afternoon but not even 90+ degrees could keep NYC ravers out of the Riverside tents for one of the weekend's grindiest sets.
You could just tell by the look on Ferry's face towards the end of the set on Friday that he knew he had killed it! Playing one of the most high-energy Trance sets we've ever seen, the set was only overshadowed by Above & Beyond. Watch out for our interview with him coming soon!
Whether you're a fan of Trance music or not, A&B are life-changers. Tony and Jono played two absolutely magnificent sets, one Friday for Group Therapy at Hilltop and one Saturday Main Stage to close the night. The English trio is known for their moving mixes, and I can safely say that everyone from die-hard Anjunabeats fans to people who had never heard them before were blown away by their sets. I have never seen anyone cry at an EDM show, but these two made it happen - two nights in a row with confetti raining down from the sky. The highlight for me was their closing with Oceanlab's "On a Good Day" Saturday night. Absolutely breathtaking, as always.
The Godfather played an amazing set Main Stage Sunday main stage dropping countless new tracks such as Dyro & Amba Shepherd's "Sky High". Tiesto kept the crowd moving with "Maximal Crazy" and other smash-hits, it was a total shame he didn't get to close the festival.
Our boy D-D-Diplo got dirty last night with one of the best sets we've ever seen him play, and with 3D visuals! Dropping countless originals and new Major Lazer tracks, and grimey Moombah remixes of Rick Ross, to Kanye, to Azealia Banks, D kept the crowd grinding sweaty and dirty for an entire hour-and-a-half. The highlight of the set was of course when "Express Yourself" dropped and our very own Anne Chang ("Trisha Takanawa") was escorted on stage to twerk that bootay. One of the best sets of the entire weekend.
By Edward Fancher
Update on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 4:13PM by
Admin
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Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 3:03PM | tagged ;)
